First Hit: Meandering and unfocused attempt to bring this Jonathan Lethem novel to life on the big screen.
Screenwriter, Director, and Actor Edward Norton failed to make this an engaging crime thriller in the tradition of Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown.” Although there were aspects of this film, I thought exquisite, for instance the jazz club scenes and the scenes in Moses Randolph’s office, generally it felt long and tired.
One way it felt tired to me was me having to analyze scenes to see if things were making sense as the film moved along. Often, they didn’t, which is tiring. For instance, a few early scenes in the Minna Detective Agency office were confusing, and I found myself questioning how the agency made any money and had pleasantly nice offices. Everybody in the office seemed flush, not struggling. There were hints that people in the agency drove people around in cars for a fee and that this was a side business, but everyone at the agency always seemed to be in the office and sitting at their desks doing nothing. I kept thinking, how did all four guys in the agency make money? The main character Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton), always seemed to have money to buy drinks with lavish tips, pay for taxis, and buy dinner or two for meetings with other people.
These and other logic questions kept popping up in my mind as the film wore on and took me away from engaging more with the story.
Basically, the story is about Lionel’s dedication to his boss and friend Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). Because Frank gets shot and killed early in the story, Lionel has to find out who did it. He cannot let go of the puzzle in his head, which is where his being afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome adds to the plot. He’s always blurting out comments at an inopportune time, but it helps him to drive to answers to open questions.
The trail to find his boss’s killer begins from a hint Frank whispered to Lionel just before his death in the hospital from a gunshot wound that Lionel witnessed.
The hint has to do with a woman, Laura Rose (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who un-be-knowingly was fathered by a powerful city politician Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin). Although he’s never in an elected spot, he’s always been chosen to run the public parks, building commission, and the housing commission. This is where the real power of control over the city lies.
The audience sees his bullying ways in an early scene when he storms into the Mayor's office and demands to have all the commissions he had before the recent election.
Randolph has a genius brother, Paul (Willem Dafoe), whom he keeps on a short leash and on the edge of hope. Paul figures into the story because Lionel interviews him and learns more about his controlling brother Moses.
I can say that I spent 2 ½ hours watching some good scenes with some excellent acting sprinkled in along the way. However, the meandering nature of the movie and overly complicated scenes to achieve a visible result were not well-intentioned.
Norton was at times good as Lionel, but somehow his expression of the syndrome became part of the distraction versus adding to the film and story. It’s a difficult thing to do, and at times it failed. Willis’ small but pivotal part was good while it lasted. Mbatha-Raw was outstanding as Rose. Her ability to be both strong and vulnerable was effectively used. Baldwin was the best of the bunch in this film. Without any doubt he brought the role of powerful non-elected city politician to life. His conversation with Lionel about the importance of building his future dream city was wonderfully done. Dafoe gives a reliable performance as the younger brother of Moses. He's continually seeking approval for his work, and his subsequent disappointment was exquisitely displayed towards the end of the story when he opens an envelope, filled with hope, only to find something else. For me one of the most compelling scenes was between Lionel and Trumpet Man (Michael Kenneth Williams). While in Trumpet Man’s home, he and Lionel talk about their respectively messed up heads and how they each try to soothe their inner beasts. Watching Williams's performance, I was transfixed. Norton both wrote and directed this film. The direction of his own performance needed work. He seemed too engaged with watching himself where trimming his screen time might have helped the film by being more focused. However, he does have directorial talent and was able to evoke several powerful scenes by letting the talent shine.
Overall: I can say that I spent 2 ½ hours watching some good scenes with some excellent acting sprinkled in a long, meandering, and overly complicated moments to achieve an obvious result.